And you also may have believed that all water is raw unless it’s been boiled for tea. But no, raw water actually refers to water that hasn’t been treated or processed in any way.

In what is possibly the most Goop thing to ever happen, water startups are cropping up around America offering people the chance to sup virgin water which has come straight from the source, and has forgone the traditional safety precautions.

Sounds positively bucolic, amirite?

It conjures up images of water nymphs floating over a lake, gently drinking that sweet H2O, just as God intended.

Tap water isn’t perfect.

They say London water has been recycled seven times, while in recent years, America has suffered lead contamination disasters.

Please leave the raw water to the ducks

But raw water is a very bad idea, so don’t be mugged off by it

Saying that, however, there are reasons why western society is living longer than ever in the 21st century and one of those is most definitely treating bloody water.

Filtering and chlorinating water has stopped whole communities from being wiped out from cholera and typhoid, while ‘raw’ water could have any number of chemicals and germs in it. A puddle could be marketed as raw and you don’t see many people getting on their knees every time they fancy a drink, do you?

In fact, according to Time.com, tap water is treated to remove 91 different contaminants. We have no idea how many lurk in raw water sources.

Sure, some people might be worried about drinking tap water but hello, we’re not living in the 1800s – Britta filter has been out for years.

Go to countries like Ghana and you’ll come across people drinking raw water all right, because they have no option but to drink from potentially dangerous springs and rivers. Doing so can cause river blindness, Dengue fever and dysentery (VERY AWFUL, PAINFUL DISEASES). They’d give their right eyes to have a properly treated water source and yet over here in the developed world, we’re turning our back on it.

Like vaccinations, water is treated to keep us safe. It’s not a conspiracy to kill us all off with fluoride poisoning. In fact, fluoride in our water systems has been credited for substantially improving the quality of our teeth.

It’s one thing swimming with your mouth open when you’re on holiday somewhere idyllic (guilty) and another actively going out of your way to drink untreated money and paying for the privilege.